The number of hits on the Gibraltar Government’s frontier queue website reached close to 30,000 on Sunday following the border delays created by the Spanish authorities. This is ten times more than the number of daily hits routinely experience by the site.

The number of persons checking www.frontierqueue.gi started to increase from Thursday 25 July to Friday 26 July. On the Friday there were just under 10,000 hits. This continued to increase on Saturday 27 July to over 15,000 hits and then it peaked on Sunday 28 July at nearly 30,000.

There were over 28,000 hits from Gibraltar, over 18,000 from Spain and over 3,000 from the United Kingdom. There were also hits from a number of other EU countries like Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. The website also experienced hits from places as far as the United States, Australia and Japan.

Commenting on the matter, the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia said:

“The increased activity on the frontier queue website is a direct reflection of the concern that was generated across the board by Madrid’s heavy-handed tactics at the frontier. The policy of deliberate delays, which the Spanish Foreign Ministry have reserved their right to implement in the future, runs against the spirit and the letter of Spain’s obligations as a member of the European Union. The Government is not questioning that Spain is entitled to check persons and goods crossing the border. The issue is that such checks have to be proportionate and cannot in turn hamper the right of EU nationals to freedom of movement through an internal border of the European Union.

“The fact is that there are four lanes of traffic exiting Gibraltar and only one green channel entering Spain. When the green channel is effectively suspended and cars are stopped and searched, it is obvious that lengthy queues will result at the best of times. This is compounded when there is a deliberate policy on the part of the Spanish Government to use the frontier as a political weapon against Gibraltar. The irony is that they punish thousands of their own citizens and many other EU nationals who come in to work every day or who are visitors to Gibraltar.

The Government will continue to expose the inhumane policy of the Spanish Government and is now considering upgrading the frontierqueue.gi website in order to offer greater functionality and to make it more interactive.”